Storage or secondary battery



(No Model.) r

C. J. VAN DEPOELE.

STORAGE 0R SECONDARY BATTERY.

No. 276,099. Patented Apr. 17,1883.

fiver 1%? 6241 .9. Van/Jamel:

CHARLES FFIQ J. VAN DEI)OEIJE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

STORAGE OR SECONDARY BATTERY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 276,089, dated April 1'7, 1883,

Application filed August 17, 1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES J. VAN DE- POELE, ot'Ohicago, in the county of Cool: and State of Illinois, have invented new and use 5 ful Improvements in Storage or Secondary Batteries; and I hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

The nature of this invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in the construction and operation of storage or secondary batteries; and it consists in the details of construction and the various combinations of the parts, and in the method of polarizing or forming the plates of such storage or secondary battery, as more fully hereinafter described.

Figure 1 is a vertical central section of my 1 improved storage-battery. Fig. 2 is a crosssection of the same on the line m w in Fig. 1. i In the accompanying drawings, which form i a part of this specification, A represents a r brass rod, to which all the leaden saucers B B are secured, the top end of said rod serving as a binding-post, I.

O are thimbles, of rubber or other insulating material, surrounding the brass rod between the leaden saucers to prevent the oxidation of the rod, and at the same time insulating or preventing contact between the spirals D and the saucers B. A spider, E, also of rubber or other insulating material, is placed in the botare placed to prevent contact between such spirals and the leaden saucers. The spirals D are also made of lead coiled loosely around the rod A, as shown in Fig.1, and over the saucers B, being insulated by means of the thimbles and spiders already described. The free ends of the spirals are soldered toa leaden case or tube, Ur, which incloses the whole system,butnot in metallic contactwiththeleaden saucers.

F is a binding-post connected to the shell G, and forms the negative pole of the device.

Having described the construction of the difi'erent parts of my accumulator, I will explain the peculiar mode of charging or forming the same and making it ready for use. The first operation, after the device has been tom of all the saucers, within which the spirals constructed as described, is to plunge the device into a bath of acidulated waterabout eight parts of water, one part of nitric and one part of sulphuric acid. This operation is to cleanse the plates from greasy or dirty spots, and to prepare the leaden surfaces for electro' lytic action. After the plates are cleaned each element of the device is placed in a glass jar containing about seven parts of water and three parts of nitric acid. The respective poles of the accumulator are now connected with a dynamo,and a light or rather weak current is allowed to flow through the elements for about an hour, after which the element is discharged. Then the charging is recommenced and continued for aboutfour hours or less, according to the strength of the current employed, when the plates will be found one bright and clear, and the other will be heavily coated with pure nitrate of lead. The bright and clear plate is the positive. The electrolytic action is now stopped, and the device removed from thejar and placed in a tank with slowly-running water to remove the free nitric acid from the plates without disturbing the nitrate formed on the negative. After a shortimmersionsay twenty minutesin the running water, the device is carefully removed and placed in a proper jar, J, filled with water containing ten per cent. of sulphuric acid, (the usual solution,) and can remain in said jar until worn away. The device is now again subjected to the action of a dynamo or other battery for a period of, say, four hours. In this case the polarity mustbe reversed. Now the nitrate of lead is changed into the peroxide of lead and carried to the other plate of the device. As soon as this is effected the forming of the battery is nearly completed, and it should be discharged, and a layer of black oxide of manganese is placed in the upper one ofthe leaden saucers, B, in which there should be no spiral. A small quantity of the said manganese may be sprinkled over the other parts of the element if convenient to withdraw it from the electrolytic liquid for that purpose; or a quantity of the said oxide may be thrown into and become dissolved in the electrolyticliquid in the quickestand most convenient manner. The polarityshould now be again reversed, or be the same as it was when under the action of the nitric-acid bath.

In a very short time the electrolytic liquid l turns a beautiful purple, showing the presence of permanganic acidin solution. Bycontinuing the action of formation the color of said solution gradually disappears, indicating that the permanganic acid has changed into the peroxide of manganese by uniting with the oxygen set free by the decomposition of the electrolyte. The peroxide of manganese combines with the peroxide of lead and forms a double peroxide of lead and manganese. The great affinity which the salts of manganese have for oxygen is well known, and the addition of the black oxide of manganese to the electrolytic liquid while the plates or portions of the battery are being formed renders the battery more powerful by increasing the formation of electro-chemical potential. Iolarization or charging should now go on until all the peroxide of lead has been rcdeposited upon the spirals or negative plates, at which time the saucers or positive plates should appear a dull gray.

The advantages I claim for this construction are: First, the spirals,bein g placed in and over the saucers,present a very large surface second, the gases generated during the charging and discharging pass freely upward from the positive to the negative plate third, the peroxide of lead formed on the spirals cannot drop into the bottom of thejars, and remains where most efi'ective; fourth, the state of the elements can always be seen at a glance. Another and great advantage I claim in this accumulator is the mode of forming the plates. It is well known that to charge the Plant battery or accumulator it requires a long time to form the plates-say from three hundred to eight hundred hours--to bring about the proper conditions. In the Faure battery, where minium or red lead is used to help form the plates, at great many inconveninces present themselves in applying this to the plates, and although it takes lesstime to form the plates than in the Plant it still requires about four times as long as it does in my system of formation. The peroxide of lead unites with the peroxide of manganese and renders the accumulator more powerful and very largely prolongs its action.

prevent local action The use and application of the oxide of manganese in the energizing of secondary batteries, and the method of forming theplates, as above described, are not herein claimed, as they form the subject of separate applications for Letters Patent.

In twenty-four hours he formed to perfection, use, and will run for a length of time according to the work to be done. For occasional use this battery retains its power for several weeks; but for lighting by the incandescent or by the are system it will practically run one or more nights, according to size, and when exhausted a short time is only required to re- 6 charge it for further use.

What I claim as my invention is- 1. In a secondary battery, the saucers B, soldered or otherwise secured to a conductor, A, in combination with a number of corre 7 sponding spirals, and connected substantially as and for the purposes described.

- 2. In a secondary battery, the spirals D, all connected to a main conductor, G, in combination with a corresponding number of sau- 7 cers attached to a conductor, A, all connected and arranged substantially as specified.

In a secondary battery, the insulatingthimbles G and spiders F, for the purpose of insulating the spirals from the saucers and to 8 from the conductor A, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination, with a series of saucer and spiral electrodes arranged one within the other, substantially as described, of the saucer 8 B, located above said series, and adapted to contain the soluble components of the electrolyte, as set forth.

5. In a secondary battery, the spirals D and inclosing leaden shell G, said spirals and 9 shell being connected,as described, and adapted to form one of the electrodes of the battery, substantially as set forth.

CHARLES J. VAN DEPOELE.

my accumulator may and'made ready for Witnesses:

FRANK L. STRONG, B. F. SMITH. 

